Saving Laurel Springs Read Online Free PDF

back here and fix up Laurel Springs.”
    He ricocheted another stone off the ledge and down into the valley. “I had to go alone and I missed you. You promised you’d come at midterm, but you found another excuse not to come.”
    â€œDaddy wasn’t much better,” she interrupted. “You know that. I was needed here.”
    He turned angry eyes toward her. “I needed you, too, Rhea. And I couldn’t come home that summer. Then, as summer ended, you didn’t come again. You promised you would and you broke that promise, too.”
    Rhea blew out a breath. “You were working on your first big game that summer, while I was here trying to keep Laurel Springs going, trying to keep up Daddy’s jobs and responsibilities. I meant to come in the fall, but as you well know, Daddy died.”
    â€œAnd still you didn’t come.” His voice was quiet.
    Rhea shook her head in exasperation. “Things changed, Carter. My father died. I could hardly pack up my bags and head out West. I was my parents’ only child. Who would handle Daddy’s responsibilities?”
    He slanted her a sharp glance. “Your mother would have managed. She’s a strong woman. And she and Nana would have understood if you left them. They knew I had to go on to California alone and be without you for a year.” He pitched another stone over the cliff in irritation. “Dash it all, Rhea, how do you think I felt? I felt abandoned when you didn’t come. I felt you didn’t care.”
    She began to lose patience. “Well, poor little you. So you just had to go out and find yourself a rich California girl and get married to console yourself.”
    Carter clenched his fists. “You’re ticking me off.”
    â€œGood. So go away and leave me alone. I don’t want to kiss and make up now that your little wife has died.” She spit the words out angrily.
    He grabbed her arm, provoked. “Do you ever think how you sound when you lose your temper and spout off like this—how you make people feel?”
    â€œI hope I make you feel horrible.” She jerked her arm away and inched her way back off the rock to stand up on more solid ground. “I hope I hurt you like you hurt me.”
    Carter followed her off the rock and stood up to grasp both her arms. “You don’t really mean that.”
    â€œYes, I do.” She tried to pull away from him. “What are you doing back here anyway, Carter Layman? What’s brought you back now after all this time? I hoped you’d never come back.”
    Carter studied her face, and his voice grew soft. “You don’t really mean that either.”
    Tears threatened at her eyes, but she fought them back. “Yes, I do. I hate you, Carter Layman—for how you hurt me, for how little your promises meant. Do you hear me, I hate you.” She struggled now to get away from his grasp, hitting at him, trying to kick him.
    He fought her, wrestling her into a steely grip in his arms. And then his lips came down to lock on hers with anger.
    Rage simmered between them as Rhea struggled to free herself—and then reason and logic vanished and passion crashed over them. Carter pressed her against the rocky ledge, his hands moving over her. She whimpered, drawing him closer, letting her hands touch his face, his arms, all the angles and curves of him—so familiar to her heart even after all these years. Rhea felt Carter’s fingers in her hair, his lips explore her neck and shoulder. She felt the fire that always exploded between them sizzling in the air.
    He brought his lips back to hers, and the world seemed to fade away in the blaze of feelings that always erupted between them. Carter moaned and drew her even closer, pressing her tighter against the rock, and Rhea wrapped her arms around him, wanting to feel every inch of him touching her.
    It wasn’t until he drew back and smiled at her with that